The Girl of the Golden West – Composer The Girl of the Golden West – Composer The Girl of the Golden West – Composer Share Pin It Giacomo Puccini His full name was Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini . . . it was Italian tradition to include the names of your grandfathers on the birth certificate. Giacomo came from a long line of organists, composers and choir masters in Lucca, a small town in nothern Italy. As a boy, Puccini was described as “lazy, slow, and a poor student,” who enjoyed only bird hunting. His mother, a single parent with seven children, forced him to study music. To help with family finances, Puccini began working at age 11 as a church organist, and later earned money by teaching piano and playing piano in Lucca’s taverns. Puccini saw his first opera at age 18.

Too poor for train fare, he walked almost 20 miles to see Verdi’s AIDA in Pisa, and it changed his life: “I felt that a musical window had opened for me.” Puccini now knew he would not become a church musician like his father, but would turn to opera. He made plans to move to Milan, where the famous opera house, La Scala, was the new center of Italian opera. It took him four years to save enough money to enroll in Milan Conservatory. In Milan, Puccini was poor, but he met the most influential figures in Italian opera. To save money, he shared an apartment with several friends, and in later years, he would recall episodes of dodging bill collectors and playing piano in bars for food. Puccini hated his landlord, who opened the tenants’ mail to collect rent before they could spend it. The students were not allowed to cook in their rooms, but were too poor to eat out, so while his friends cooked, Puccini played piano as loudly as possible to cover the kitchen sounds. In LA BOHÈME, the landlord would become the old buffoon, Benoit, and the young roommates would cheat him out of his rent. . .

something Puccini wanted to do in his youth. Puccini wrote his first opera, LE VILLI, for an opera competition. The judges didn’t like it, but Giulio Ricordi, the most important publisher in Italy, liked it, and saw great promise in Puccini. He paid Puccini a stipend for several years, and stood by him through several attempts to write a successful opera. Ricordi believed that Puccini would become famous. He was right. He made a fortune as the publisher of the world’s most popular operas: TOSCA, LA BOHÈME, and MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Some of Puccini’s most popular operas were composed around the turn of the century included LA BOHÈME in 1896, TOSCA in 1900, and MADAMA BUTTERFLY in 1904, an opera he based on a David Belasco play he’d seen in London. This would not be the first time that Puccini had inspiration from a Belasco play. Then came a long period when he searched for new subjects and yearned to write a different kind of opera.

The result was a commission from America, on an American subject, to be premiered in New York for the Metropolitan Opera. Puccini was again inspired by a David Belasco play and subsequently wrote LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST (THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST), a tale of gold miners in the California gold rush. FANCIULLA had its premiere in 1910. He wrote four more operas before beginning TURANDOT in 1920. TURANDOT would prove to be an extremely difficult project for Puccini. In fact, he never completed the opera. There were many problems: his librettists were slow, the story line required major rewriting, Puccini wanted it to be bigger than any of his other works and, worst of all, his health was failing. Throughout his life Puccini was never without his beloved cigars, and he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1923. He had a fatal heart attack after surgery in Brussels, and died on November 29, 1924. Unlike most composers, Puccini died a wealthy man, with an estate valued at $24 million in today’s money.

From 1850 to Puccini’s time, the opera business in Italy was like the Broadway musical scene of today: it was big business. Wealthy investors poured money into star performers and big productions, looking for the next hit show. In Italy, Giuseppe Verdi had been the reigning monarch of opera composers for over fifty years. He had just come out of a long retirement to compose OTELLO (1887) and FALSTAFF (1893), but he was already 80 years old. Italy was looking for Verdi’s successor, and Ricordi put his money on Puccini. And by 1900, all the world knew that Puccini was the heir designate. Puccini wrote 12 operas with three of them, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, LA BOHÈME, and TOSCA easily qualifying as world class, all-time hits, that made the “top ten money makers” list. Add FANCIULLA, TURANDOT and MANON LESCAUT, and you have operas with a large portion of the most beautiful, most frequently sung arias ever written.

Puccini was a master of composing beautiful tunes. Many are used in arias, but most are found woven into the score like threads in fabric. He uses melodies to describe action, individual characters, and emotions. Most of Puccini’s characters have their own themes, called motives, which portray them through music. Puccini searched long and hard for good subjects for his operas. He read scripts and traveled widely to see new plays and theatrical productions. He had an uncanny sense of drama and would not settle on one subject until he knew it would provide powerful, emotional theater. Puccini once described himself as “more heart than mind,” and wrote once, “how can one compose what one does not feel?” With his great melodic gifts, Puccini controlled pacing and mood on stage. He never let things slow down. His favorite tool was contrast: he could instantly turn a scene from humorous to tragic, from lyric to dramatic. Puccini heroines are often tragic figures who are ultimately betrayed by the men in their lives. Floria Tosca is no exception. Her pact with Scarpia and his ultimate betrayal is a classic element in Puccini operas.

Great interpreters of the role of Tosca include Emily Destinn and Maria Callas. Cavaradossi was often performed by legendary tenors like Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Scarpia became the signature role for baritone Tito Gobbi. Learn much more about THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST The Girl of the Golden West (1938) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Girl of the Golden West ( 1938 ) Passed | Mary Robbins is a moderately educated, beautiful, young woman who owns the saloon called "The Poker". She is the only woman in the town of Couldee-making her the fancy of all the men there,...

See full summary » Director: a list of 300 titles created 09 Feb 2011 a list of 9996 titles created 26 Jun 2012 a list of 6724 titles created 03 Dec 2013 a list of 356 titles created 2 months ago a list of 1689 titles created 1 month ago Title: The Girl of the Golden West (1938) 6.7/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Opera singer (Marie de Flor) seeks out fugitive brother in the Canadian wilderness. During her trek, she meets a Canadian mountie (Sgt. Bruce) who is also searching for her brother. Romance... See full summary » Director: W.S. Van Dyke In order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and escapes to colonial New Orleans, where she finds an unlikely true love. Directors: Robert Z. Leonard, W.S.

Van Dyke Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan An elderly Miss Morrison recounts her life as the once young and beautiful opera singer Marcia Morney-then the toast of Napoleon III's Paris. One evening, she encounters an American voice ... See full summary » Director: Robert Z. Leonard A musical comedy duo in their 6th year on Broadway receive an offer to perform in Hollywood making films. The change of lifestyle is inviting to the Sweethearts as the move will take them ... See full summary » Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Robert Z. Leonard Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan The brother of a notorious outlaw is put in a charge of a stagecoach line way station in dangerous Apache territory. A stagecoach arrives at the station with a valuable box of cargo, and ... See full summary » Directors: Richard Thorpe, Richard Rosson Stars: Lloyd Nolan, Donna Reed, William Lundigan Marianne de Beaumaniour is on her way to New Orleans from Paris to inspect the plantation she inherited from her uncle. On the ship with her are bondsmen, that are to be sold for slavery. ... See full summary » Directors: Robert Z.

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Leonard Edit Storyline Mary Robbins is a moderately educated, beautiful, young woman who owns the saloon called "The Poker". She is the only woman in the town of Couldee-making her the fancy of all the men there, especially to Sheriff Jack Rance. On the way to Monterey to sing at a mass officiated by Father Sienna, her stagecoach is held up by the infamous masked bandit, Ramerez. He too takes a fancy to Mary, and decides to secretly follow her, taking on the identity of an officer named, Lieutenant Johnson. While in Monterey, he dances, sings and courts Mary, who has now fallen in love with him. He then has to make a quick getaway. In the mean-time, Sheriff Jack has set up a trap to catch Ramerez at "The Poker". When Ramerez does arrive he soon discovers that Mary is the owner, and quickly changes to the identity of Lieutenant Johnson. How long can this sherade last? Written by Kelly See All (33) » Taglines: When a western beauty meets a dangerous bandit you'll get a thrill at their hot-blooded romance!

See more » Genres: 18 March 1938 (USA) See more » Also Known As: La belle cabaretière See more » Filming Locations: Mono (Western Electric Sound System) Color: David Belasco 's play originally opened in New York on 14 November 1905. See more » Quotes Ramerez : I hope I'll see you again sometime. Yeah? Mary Robbins : I hope I'll see you again sometime too. Dangling on the end of a rope! – See all my reviews I am writing this review after my second viewing of this movie. After my first viewing, I thought it was trash but with time and a sequestered absence, my opinion has changed and I think it is the second best of the Nelson Eddy/ Jeanette Macdonald behind only the incomparable The Naughty Marietta. For one, Nelson Eddy had learned to act, not well but okay. Jeanette gives her best performance in this movie, and that accent is impeccable. The story is good with a lot of serious dramatic scenes including a scene at a log cabin that lasts close to twenty minutes and does not drag.

You could cut the music out of this movie and it would still play like a romantic drama. Most of the singing is solid as Eddy was one of the great voices of the 20th Century. Walter Pidgeon as the spurned lover does his thang and Buddy Ebsen in a supporting role of a hick walks away with the whole picture. The basic plot of the Puccini opera is retained if not mangled and Belasco's play forms the basis for this movie. All in all, suprisingly low key in style but effective at heart. 16 of 16 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes REVIEW: The Girl of the Golden West (Lyric Opera) | Chicago Theater Beat REVIEW: The Girl of the Golden West (Lyric Opera) Scotty Zacher | January 27, 2011 Sheriffs! Bandits! Damsels! Passion! What’s not to love? The Girl of the Golden West through Feb 21 | tickets : $56-$217 | more info Reviewed by K.D. Hopkins I love a good Western.

That may come as a surprise to some but maybe more of a surprise is the idea of a great Western opera – in Italian. Giacomo Puccini ’s fascination with the American West is gloriously displayed in the Lyric Opera production of La Fanciulla Del West (or The Girl Of The Golden West ). My dad used to call Westerns ‘horse operas’ because of all of the drama, brawling, greed, and damsels in distress. Luckily for us, Puccini’s Minnie is no mere damsel-in-distress when embodied by the fabulous soprano Deborah Voight . Ms. Voight emanates strength with a healthy dose of ‘don’t mess with me’, making one of the great entrances in an opera – shooting off two rounds from her pistol to break up a fracas at the Polka saloon. Puccini’s interest in the “Wild West” was piqued by the European tours of the Buffalo Bill Western shows that included sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The deal was sealed, then, when – on a visit to New York – Puccini attended the Broadway play Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco . Ms.

Voight’s Minnie has just enough brass and fire to play with the boys and fend off the lascivious charm of the sheriff Jack Rance, played by baritone Marco Vratogna . Mr. Vratogna’s baritone is sexy and sinister. Rance is a sheriff and a gambler who thinks he has a direct line on Minnie’s virtue. Vratogna channels the great Yul Brynner with a shaved head and piercing intense gaze. I wondered if Brynner had modeled his Gunslinger on Jack Rance in the 1973 science fiction Western “ Westworld ”. In every Western there must be an outlaw, especially if the bad guy is a smoldering misunderstood one. Enter the great tenor Marcello Giordani as Ramerrez aka Dick Johnson the hunted leader of a murderous gang of thieves out to steal the gold from this mining backwater. Mr. Giordani has a gorgeous voice with velvety tones that never border on the strident or maudlin. He is a wonderful counterpoint to Ms. Voight’s powerful and clear soprano. Their acting is top notch in portraying two thunderstruck lovers.

Voight’s bedroom eyes and womanly countenance enhance her performance. Meanwhile Giordani is quite entrancing and smoldering as her true love enraptured at the thought of one kiss from Minnie. Mr. Vratogna (Sheriff Rance) and Ms. Voight have an excellent chemistry as well. Sheriff Rance’s intentions are less than honorable. He has a wife and Minnie is more of a trophy to be captured. There is a tense scene with Rance trying to force himself on Minnie and Ms. Voight’s portrayal is explosive in rebuffing him. The supporting cast of “Fanciulla” is a combination of wonderful voices and fine acting. David Cangelosi is excellent as Nick the Polka bartender. He is a perfect comic relief as he pits the miners against one another in thinking they are at the top of the list for Minnie’s affections. Craig Irvin has a beautiful voice and excellent stage presence as Ashby the Wells Fargo man. I loved the portrayal of Sonora by the baritone Daniel Sutin . He has an exceptionally expressive visage to accompany the voice.

Puccini was my first exposure to opera with a Lyric production of La Boheme back in the 1970’s. His sense of theatre and drama are incomparable. He composed the lush and sweeping tragedies Tosca ( recently produced at Lyric ★★★½) and Madama Butterfly. His works infuse humor, irony, and a wonderful sexiness to his characters for which I am grateful. He consistently wrote wonderful roles for women in particular. In “Fanciulla”, the role of Minnie is the only major female among at least forty men on the stage. It’s a powerhouse role to be undertaken by only the best and that is Deborah Voight. In my opinion, Puccini is the greatest theatrical composer history in history, and many have given homage or outright plagiarized his work. The Puccini estate sued Andrew Lloyd Webber over blatant lifts from “Fanciulla” in his version of The Phantom of The Opera – and the estate basically won, as Webber settled out of court. I also feel that Gene de Paul and Johnny Mercer owe a debt to Puccini for the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers score as well.

Puccini’s rich and sweeping washes of sound are perfect for the Technicolor epics of John Ford and Stanley Donen , and – had Puccini he lived further into the 20th century – he may have been witness to his influence on the American film soundtrack in Douglas Sirk melodramas and film noir classics. The conductor for the evening was Sir Andrew Davis , who led the orchestra with command and joyful gusto. He has such joy for the music and that translates into an overall beautiful production. The Lyric is also gifted with the legendary Harold Prince as the original producer of “Fanciulla” in 1978 in Chicago. The director Vincent Liotta previously worked with Mr. Prince and has once again directed an excellent production. Take the time to get acquainted with the treasure that is Chicago’s Lyric Opera . This is theatre and music that has persevered because of its beauty and soul-touching quality. It’s a chance to get dressed nice, put on your Sunday manners, and sit in one of the world’s great opera houses. Brava! Bravo! Te amo Maestro Puccini!

The Girl of the Golden West | opera by Puccini | Britannica.com The Girl of the Golden West opera by Puccini THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Alternative Title: “La fanciulla del west” Learn about this topic in these articles: in Giacomo Puccini: Mature work and fame ...La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La fanciulla del west (1910; The Girl of the Golden West). These four mature works also tell a moving love story, one that centres entirely on the feminine protagonist and ends in a tragic resolution. All four speak the... in opera: Later opera in Italy ...Illica which capitalized upon Puccini’s ability to portray sorrowing heroines in music. Returning closer to violent verismo, he next composed an opera to an American theme, La fanciulla del west (1910; “ The Girl of the Golden West”). Puccini died before finishing his last opera, Turandot (libretto by Adami and Renato...

Opera review: 'The Girl of the Golden West' - SFGate Opera review: 'The Girl of the Golden West' OPERA REVIEW By Joshua Kosman , San Francisco Chronicle Published 4:00 am, Friday, June 11, 2010 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1of/2 Close Image 1 of 2 Deborah Voight is armed with a rifle in a scene from the San Francisco Opera's production of Puccini's "The Girl of the Golden West" in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 4, 2010. Deborah Voight is armed with a rifle in a scene from the San Francisco Opera's production of Puccini's "The Girl of the Golden West" in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 4, 2010. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 2 of 2 Sheriff Rance, portrayed by Roberto Frontali, organizes a posse to capture outlaws in a scene from the San Francisco Opera's production of Puccini's "The Girl of the Golden West" in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 4, 2010.

less Sheriff Rance, portrayed by Roberto Frontali, organizes a posse to capture outlaws in a scene from the San Francisco Opera's production of Puccini's "The Girl of the Golden West" in San Francisco, Calif., on ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Opera review: 'The Girl of the Golden West' 1 / 2 Back to Gallery "La Fanciulla del West" ("The Girl of the Golden West"), Puccini's elaborate operatic oater, wants two things to make it work: a conductor in tune with the lush inventiveness of the score, and a soprano who can consistently bring vigor and vocal allure to the demanding title role. The San Francisco Opera 's new production, which opened at the War Memorial Opera House Wednesday night - its first presentation of the work in more than 30 years - has just one of those. Music Director Nicola Luisotti has been an outspoken champion of "Fanciulla" for some time now, and his dedication to the piece was evident throughout an impassioned and forceful performance.

The Opera Orchestra sounded splendid - though Luisotti's enthusiasm sometimes led him to drown out the singers - and the harmonic and rhythmic fecundity of Puccini's writing came through at every juncture. But things were more uncertain on the vocal front, with a strenuous and often acidic performance from soprano Deborah Voigt and capable but inconsistent contributions from her colleagues. The result was an evening of undeniable rewards, but one that didn't quite make a fully convincing case for a work that is apt to be unfamiliar even to practiced opera buffs. The reasons for the piece's comparative neglect are understandable but far from justified. Based (like "Madama Butterfly" before it) on a play by the American writer and impresario David Belasco , "Fanciulla" is set in a mining camp during the California Gold Rush . It tells the tale of Minnie, a goodhearted tavern keeper who tends to the spiritual and emotional needs of the local men while keeping at bay the erotic needs of the sheriff, Jack Rance.

Love comes to her at last in the person of a bandit going by the preposterous pseudonym of Dick Johnson , and it triumphs thanks to a combination of built-up good will and the always-useful ability to cheat at poker. Skeptics may giggle at the spectacle of the Italianate miners, even though the setting and plot are no more absurd on their face than anything in "La Bohème" or "Madama Butterfly." More telling is the fact that "Fanciulla" finds Puccini stretching beyond the musical idiom of his early successes, and doing it in ways that are sometimes brilliant and sometimes not quite persuasive. To listen to "Fanciulla" is to hear foreshadowings of the harmonic daring of "Turandot" - particularly in the frequent use of whole-tone scales derived from Debussy - as well as melodic shapes and formulas carried over from "Tosca" and "Bohème." Luisotti did his best to integrate these strains, with frequent but not universal success.

Voigt, singing Minnie for the first time, brought theatrical vibrancy and considerable personal charm to the role - it was no stretch to imagine an entire troop of miners eating out of her hand - but her singing largely lacked the freshness and tonal bloom it once boasted. Through the first two acts, her tone sounded pinched and constrained, with a sense of effort that kept the role's soaring phrases from conveying their full impact. The performance improved greatly in the third act, in time for her heartfelt plea for Johnson's life to have its effect. Making his company debut as Johnson, tenor Salvatore Licitra also came into his own in that short final act. "Ch'ella mi creda libero e lontano," in which he asks the miners not to tell Minnie of his ignominious demise, emerged with a full flourishing of lyricism that was not always evident elsewhere. Baritone Roberto Frontali was a potent Rance, singing with plenty of dark color and dramatic intensity, and the men of the Opera Chorus made a hearty, well-disciplined ensemble.

Kevin Langan (Ashby) and Steven Cole (Nick) were underpowered, but there were excellent smaller contributions from Trevor Schuenemann ( Jake Wallace ), David Lomelí (Harry), Brian Leerhuber (Larkens), and Maya Lahyani (Wowkle). Director Lorenzo Mariani , working on a strangely fragmentary set by Maurizio Balò , didn't do much to make the drama cohere. An opening tableau of miners rappelling down the mountainside was simply perplexing, and the pointless final appearance of a live horse, at what should be the opera's climactic moment, stopped the proceedings dead in its tracks. San Francisco Opera: "La Fanciulla del West" plays seven more times through July 2 at the War Memorial Opera House. $15-$360. (415) 864-3330. . Latest from the SFGATE homepage: Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.

La fanciulla del West (The Girl of… | Details | AllMusic google+ Description by Rovi Staff Anyone familiar with the "Spaghetti Westerns" of the 1960s knows that the American west has held a particular fascination for film audiences in Italy -- indeed throughout Europe. However, such memorable films such as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly were only the culmination of a European love affair with the folklore and adventure of the wild west that dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. With this in mind, then, it is easier to understand why, in 1907, Giacomo Puccini --the leading composer of Italian opera--would turn to the gold mining towns of California as inspiration for his most ambitious opera to date. Puccini saw David Belasco 's play The Girl of the Golden West while attending the premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera.

While he was not immediately sure of the work itself, he left New York with a lingering interest in western themes, and when his publisher, Tito Ricordi, engaged Carlo Zingarini to write a libretto based on Belasco's play, Puccini embraced the project with great enthusiasm. Composition would not begin, however, for a further nine months, as Puccini 's time and energies were quickly consumed by a domestic tragedy involving the suicide of his maidservant, and a subsequent lawsuit against his wife, Elvira. Work on the opera was finally completed in August of 1910. Puccini's Fanciulla is the story of Minnie, a saloon owner in a mining town who falls in love with a notorious bandit; she places herself at risk to help him escape from an angry posse. The composer felt that the finished product was his finest work yet, integrating new tonal idioms and dramatic devices into his essentially lyrical style, while achieving a whole new level of concision.

The organic, through-composed nature of the score makes excerpting arias and ensembles difficult; in fact, the bandit Ramerrez's third-act aria, "Ch'ella me creda liberto e lontano," is the only true set piece in the entire opera. However, there are other memorable tunes, not the least of which is the sentimental ballad, "Che faranno i vecchi miei là lontano," which appears early on in the first scene, and the tune of which recurs frequently as a unifying element. The premiere, at the Metropolitan Opera in November, 1910, was notable for its inclusion of Enrico Caruso in the role of Ramerrez (a.k.a. Dick Johnson) and was by all accounts a triumph; but enthusiasm for Fanciulla quickly faded, and it has never firmly established itself in the repertory. Parts/Movements No. 1, Che faranno i vecchi miei No. 2, Jim, perchè piangi? No. 3a, Dove eravamo? No. 3b, Lavami e saro bianco No. 4a, Ti voglio bene, Minnie No.

4b, Minnie, dalla mia casa No. 5, Laggiu nel Soledad No. 6a, Mister Johnson siete rimasto No. 6b, Non so, non so No. 7, Oh, se sapeste No. 8a, Si! Tanto! No. 8b, Perche questa parola? No. 9a, Una parola sola! No. 9b, Sono Ramerrez No. 9c, Or son sei mesi No. 10, Che c'è di nuovo, Jack? No. 11, Siete pronto? No. 12, Ch'ella mi creda libero No. 13a, Ah!... Ah! Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West | English National Opera - YouTube Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West | English National Opera Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Oct 6, 2014 Set during the American gold rush, ENO's five star production of The Girl of the Golden West contains all of the lyrical beauty and soaring melodies for which Puccini is renowned: ★★★★★ Time Out ★★★★ Daily Express ★★★★ The Observer The Girl of the Golden West | London Coliseum | 2 Oct - 1 Nov 2014 | Book now: About The Girl of the Golden West: Puccini's 'American' opera tells the story of its heroine Minnie and a community of miners who struggle to cope with the harsh realities of survival in a bleak environment. The sublime score contains all of the lyrical beauty, soaring melodies and ambitious orchestration for which the composer is renowned. Puccini himself described The Girl of the Golden West was 'a second Bohème, only stronger, bolder and more spacious.' ENO welcomes back the award-winning director Richard Jones (Rodelinda, Julietta) to stage ENO's first production of the opera in 50 years.

A superb cast is led by the internationally-acclaimed soprano Susan Bullock as Minnie, with baritone Craig Colclough as Sheriff Jack Rance and tenor Peter Auty as Minnie's lover Dick Johnson. The Girl of the Golden West | London Coliseum | 2 Oct - 1 Nov 2014 | Book now: Cast and creative: Puccini’s ‘Fanciulla del West’ at the Metropolitan Opera - The New York Times The New York Times Music |When Puccini Rode Tall In the Saddle Search When Puccini Rode Tall In the Saddle By CORI ELLISON Continue reading the main story Photo A scene from Puccini’s “Fanciulla del West” (“The Girl of the Golden West”) at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times MUSICAL centenaries are double-edged occasions. They can inspire illuminating perspectives on worthy topics, or they can be little more than knee-jerk pretexts for music publishers, presenters and record labels to fetishize round numbers in the name of sales, with musicologists gratefully riding their coattails.

A centenary on Friday — that of the world premiere of Puccini’s “Fanciulla del West” at the Metropolitan Opera , to be commemorated there with the second performance of a revival of Giancarlo del Monaco’s 1992 production starring Deborah Voigt and Marcello Giordani — is a milestone well worth contemplating, as it recalls not just the birth of a great opera but a sort of coming of age of opera in America. In 1903 the 20-year-old Metropolitan Opera began, for the first time, to set its sights on contemporary works. Masterminding that initiative was Otto H. Kahn, a German-born financier, arts patron and advocate of American composers, who joined the Met’s board determined to reshape the company’s heavily German profile. To that end he imported two Italians, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, general manager of the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, and Arturo Toscanini, its principal conductor.

“My hope, when I came to America,” Gatti-Casazza wrote in his memoir, “was to be able to discover some good American operas, which I could produce and maintain in the repertory.” Gatti-Casazza put his money where his mouth was. In 27 years as general manager of the Met, he presented 14 American operas (a record surpassed only by Julius Rudel, who produced 35 American operas in 22 years as general director of the New York City Opera ). Most of Gatti-Casazza’s American operas conformed to a conservative post-Wagnerian style and duly became footnotes in music history, rarely performed and leading nowhere much (though one of them, Louis Gruenberg’s imaginative “Emperor Jones,” deserves revival). Gatti-Casazza’s American opera enterprise also included works written in English and works on American subjects. Luckily the world’s greatest living opera composer at the time, Giacomo Puccini , harbored a keen interest in Americana. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Puccini’s fascination with the American West dated to 1890, when he saw William F.

Cody’s touring show in Milan and wrote to his brother, “Buffalo Bill is a group of North Americans with a quantity of Indian redskins and buffaloes that perform splendid shooting tricks and truly represent scenes from the frontier.” In 1907, during his first trip to New York, Puccini saw “The Girl of the Golden West,” a play by David Belasco, the American playwright, director, producer and designer; Puccini had based an opera on Belasco’s earlier drama “Madame Butterfly.” Puccini’s paralyzing three-year search for a suitable operatic subject was over. Madama Butterfly” had already tapped the natural synergy between Puccini and Belasco, both crowd-pleasing populists who focused more on a sturdy dramatic arc, filled out with realistic detail, than on literary distinction. The setting of “The Girl of the Golden West” fueled Puccini’s ever-deepening absorption with ambience. For him an opera’s setting was not merely background but the defining element of its musical and dramatic nature. Photo A photograph from the premiere production of the opera in 1910 at the Met. Credit Metropolitan Opera Archives Belasco came by his Western location honestly.

His parents, British Jews of Portuguese extraction, were among the original forty-niners who flooded northern California after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. On a visit to a Nevada mining camp the young Belasco heard the unforgettable singing of the minstrel Jake Wallace, on whose lips Puccini would place the plangent ballad that sets and sustains the pervasive air of nostalgia in “La Fanciulla del West.” And Belasco’s father was part of a posse that captured a wounded outlaw whose hiding place in a loft was betrayed by blood dripping into the room below. This slice of life would become one of the most gripping scenes in Puccini’s pioneering spaghetti western. Belasco’s backyard was as exotic to Puccini as Cio-Cio-San’s Nagasaki or Turandot’s Beijing. In his search for “authentic” musical material, he drew from the kinds of music used in Belasco’s play: polkas, waltzes, ragtime and Latin-American tunes. These he applied with more zeal than precision, just as an American composer might indiscriminately swap a Sicilian tarantella for a Romagnan saltarello.

Puccini also mined American Indian musical material from several early ethnographic collections. These melodies granted him free access to whole-tone scales, with which he had been flirting since his early “Manon Lescaut.” In “Fanciulla” he used their roomy intervals not simply as markers for exoticism but also as aural metaphors for the wide-open spaces of the West. The ink had barely dried on “Fanciulla” when, in the summer of 1910, Gatti-Casazza called on Puccini to convince him that his new opera should become the Met’s first world premiere. Gatti-Casazza stacked the deck by offering the tenor Enrico Caruso as the male lead and Belasco himself to supervise the production, along with all the creature comforts Puccini could want. The signing of the contract between Puccini and the Met — flashily staged, with a golden pen, in Paris on June 9, 1910 — was just the first volley in a barrage of advance publicity unmatched in Met history until the current regime of the resourceful Peter Gelb. The Met spared no expense in promoting the “Fanciulla” premiere as an essential social event.

The press dogged the heels of Puccini, Belasco and Toscanini. Tickets for the premiere, at twice the normal Met prices, disappeared swiftly and were scalped for as much as 30 times their box office price. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Gatti-Casazza’s only misstep was to peddle “Fanciulla” as “Puccini’s American opera.” The composer responded, “The music cannot be called American, for music has no nationality — it is either music or nothing.” Contradicting himself later, Puccini said: “For this drama I have composed music that, I feel sure, reflects the spirit of the American people and particularly the strong, vigorous nature of the West. I have never been West, but I have read so much about it that I know it thoroughly.” As Dec. 10, 1910, the day of the “Fanciulla” premiere, approached, New York whipped itself into a frenzy nowadays reserved for Yankees World Series wins or Justin Bieber shows.

And “Fanciulla” did not disappoint, to judge from the 55 curtain calls and effusive press coverage. Advertisement Continue reading the main story But once the glow of the premiere had dimmed, it was open season on Puccini. Deaf to the innovations of his newest opera, critics became obsessed with the “inauthenticity” of everything from the singers’ gestures and makeup to the alleged misuse of American verbal locutions and musical idioms. Photo Deborah Voigt and Marcello Giordani at the Met during a rehearsal of the opera , which celebrates its centenary this year. Credit Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times Nicola Luisotti, who will conduct the Met revival, speculated on the work’s initial failure and subsequent lack of popularity. “There is no death, no blood, as there are in typical Puccini operas,“ he said. “The ending is quiet, not bombastic but not happy either. And the three leading roles are very difficult to cast.” Perhaps even harder to swallow was — and is — the opera’s musical audacity .

In “Fanciulla,” Puccini, alert to contemporary musical trends, followed his ever surer instincts toward a naturalistic music drama that absorbs short melodic units into a nearly seamless orchestral texture: anathema to those who like their Puccini served in easily digestible chunks. Like Verdi’s masterly “Falstaff,” which shares its continuous texture, “Fanciulla” is not easy to grasp on first hearing. As for the work’s current standing, Deborah Burton, an assistant professor of music at Boston University and an organizer of a centennial symposium there on Monday as well as a splendid Web site on all things “Fanciulla” ( fanciulla100.org ), said: “It goes against a century’s worth of cinematic myths about the Old West. Instead of a strong, silent cowboy rescuing a helpless heroine, we have an emotionally vulnerable bandit rescued by a gun-toting, poker-playing, independent woman. But that’s actually much truer to history.” “Fanciulla” may have imploded after its premiere, but its aftershocks have profoundly affected opera in America, for better or worse.

Not only did it place the United States firmly on the world’s cultural map, it effectively ended German hegemony over America’s operatic life. The seminal opera companies of Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago and New Orleans, born in its wake, are all Italian in provenance and aesthetics, and all thriving. Less obvious but perhaps more important is the influence of “Fanciulla” on American opera. After it Americans wrote more often about America. Charles Wakefield Cadman’s “Shanewis,” done by the Met in 1918, became the first major American opera with a contemporary American setting, and the first with a libretto by an American woman, Nelle Richmond Eberhart. Minnie, the fearless title character of “Fanciulla” and one of the few Puccini heroines left breathing at the final curtain, spawned a line of similarly strong, feisty, unorthodox American heroines.

The leading women in Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah,” Douglas Moore’s “Ballad of Baby Doe,” Jack Beeson’s “Lizzie Borden,” Marc Blitzstein’s “Regina,” Richard Danielpour’s “Margaret Garner,” Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” and Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” may all be counted among Minnie’s heirs. On the musical side Puccini’s full-throated, melodramatic and unabashedly tonal verismo style swiftly became and remained the lingua franca of American opera. Statistics compiled by the service organization Opera America clearly reveal that despite the plurality of musical and dramatic styles in opera today, “American verismo” continues its overwhelming dominance in the country’s mainstream opera houses. Hand in hand with that trend, the American operagoing public and critical establishment still nurse a deeply entrenched preference for a Belasco-inspired hyper-realistic theatrical style. For the blessings and challenges it has brought us, let’s have, in the immortal phrase from “Fanciulla,” a “whiskey per tutti” in honor of Puccini’s American opera and the progressive spirit it represents.

A version of this article appears in print on December 5, 2010, on Page AR23 of the New York edition with the headline: When Puccini Rode Tall In the Saddle. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Puccini's 'The Girl of the Golden West' : NPR Puccini's 'The Girl of the Golden West' Puccini's 'The Girl of the Golden West' From Glimmerglass Opera Embed Embed Email August 17, 200712:01 AM ET In Puccini's Girl of the Golden West, Minnie shows Jack Rance that she's not a woman to be trifled with. They're played by Emily Pulley and Jake Gardner in a production from Glimmerglass Opera. George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera hide caption toggle caption Aaron St. Clair Nicholson ... Sonora Craig Phillips ........................ Jake Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra Stewart Robertson, conductor Giacomo Puccini was never shy when it came to writing operas with exotic settings — or at least settings that seemed exotic to European audiences. Turandot is set in ancient China.

Madame Butterfly is set in Japan, around 1900. The last act of Manon Lescaut takes place on a "vast, arid plain," which somehow turns up on the outskirts of New Orleans. Still, Puccini may have outdone himself with La Fanciulla del West — The Girl of the Golden West. In this one, Puccini's signature "verismo" style comes face to face with America's Wild West. It's as though an Italian potboiler has somehow landed in Deadwood! Surely, this is the only opera to feature phrases like, "Whiskey per tutti!" and "Hello regazzi," and to have one of its crucial moments decided by, "una partita a poker." The story is based on an American drama by David Belasco. Puccini was a big fan of Belasco, who also wrote the play that inspired Madame Butterfly, and there's still a Broadway theater bearing Belasco's name. Puccini's Fanciulla was premiered in 1910 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and it was an all-star affair. Dick Johnson was sung by the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso.

Emmy Destinn was Minnie and Arturo Toscanini conducted. It was a popular and critical success from the beginning, but it does contain some of Puccini's most modern-sounding music and not everyone takes a liking to it the first time around. The character of Minnie was also something new for Puccini: She's a tough cookie, unlike the sad, put-upon, mostly doomed leading ladies of his other operas. In Fanciulla, Minnie takes gun, and fate, firmly in hand. Article continues after sponsorship On World of Opera, host Lisa Simeone brings us a performance from a more pastoral New York locale than the Metropolitan. It's a production by Glimmerglass Opera, about 10 miles north of Cooperstown. The Story of 'The Girl of the Golden West' Email August 17, 200712:01 AM ET Minnie and Dick Johnson, played by Emily Pulley and Roger Honeywell, dance a tentative waltz at Minnie's Polka Saloon.

George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera hide caption toggle caption George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera As Dick Johnson is about to hang, Minnie jumps in to save him, in Glimmerglass Opera's production of The Girl of the Golden West. George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera hide caption toggle caption George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera ACT ONE: The opera is set during the Gold Rush of 1849, and opens at sunset in the Polka Saloon, owned by a woman named Minnie. Nick, the bartender, greets miners who wander in for drinks. Minnie is preparing to lead Bible studies, assisted by two Indians, Billy Jackrabbit and his girlfriend Wowkle. Miners known as Happy, Harry, Handsome and Joe sit down to play a game of cards, with a fellow named Sid as the overseer. But Sid is caught cheating, and the miners threaten to hang him. Sheriff Jack Rance steps in to administer a little frontier justice. He pins a Two of Spades to Sid's chest as a mark of shame, and tells the others to spread the word: If Sid removes the card, he'll be shot on sight.

Ashby, a Wells Fargo agent, shows up asking for Minnie. He also tells Sheriff Rance that he's closing in on a notorious bandit who goes by the name Ramerrez. Rance begins to brag that Minnie will soon be his wife. But Sonora taunts him, saying Minnie really loves him. It's no wonder. Nick has been telling every man who comes to the bar that Minnie is sweet on him — leading each one to buy rounds for the house to celebrate. Rance declares his love for Minnie, who brushes him off. Rance sings of his unhappy childhood and his gambling life, saying he'd give a fortune for just one kiss. Minnie says that's fine, but she's holding out for true love. Nick then brings in a stranger, who calls himself Dick Johnson, and has been asking for whiskey and water. Rance demands to know Johnson's business, but Minnie vouches for him. It seems they've met before, and the two of them dance a waltz together. Ashby and a group of men drag in Jose Castro, a member of the Ramerrez gang.

Castro says he has no loyalty to Ramerrez, and to save his own skin he offers to lead the men to the bandit's camp. Then, speaking privately to Johnson, Castro tells him that the gang is ready to rob the saloon and he's only leading Ashby and the others away as a ruse. Johnson is supposed to return a whistle as a signal that the coast is clear. Castro and the other men leave. Nick says that a bandit has been seen hanging around, which worries Minnie. But Johnson comforts her and agrees to come to her place for dinner. There's a whistle from outside, but Johnson doesn't return the signal. It seems an evening with Minnie is more important to him than another heist. ACT TWO: In Minnie's cabin Billy and Wowkle, her Indian servants, sing a lullaby to their child and talk about getting married. Minnie sends Billy away so she can dress for dinner with Dick Johnson. Johnson shows up for their date and wonders about Minnie's unorthodox life among the rough and tumble miners. Minnie says she wouldn't have it any other way. After dinner, Johnson persuades Minnie to give him her very first kiss.

He knows he shouldn't let things go further but a blizzard prevents him from leaving. Minnie says he can stay over; he can have her bed, and she'll sleep by the fire. Then they hear voices outside. Minnie hides Johnson behind the bed curtains and opens her door to find Rance, accompanied by Nick, Ashby and a miner called Sonora. They say they're worried about her. They've discovered that Dick Johnson is really the notorious bandit Ramerrez, and Nick saw him heading up the trail toward Minnie's cabin. Minnie tells them she's fine, and sends them away. Alone with Johnson again, she confronts him. He admits that he is Ramerrez, but begs for forgiveness and says he'll give up everything to be with her. Minnie says she can forgive him for being a bandit, but not for stealing her first kiss with a pack of lies. Johnson leaves, but as he closes the door behind him there's a gunshot. Minnie goes to investigate and finds Johnson outside, wounded and bleeding. She brings him in, and helps him climb through a trapdoor into the attic just before Rance arrives.

Minnie says Johnson isn't there and dares Rance to search her cabin. Rance is about to give up and go when a drop of blood falls from the ceiling. He orders Johnson to come downstairs. Johnson stumbles down the ladder, and passes out. Minnie challenges Rance to a game of poker. If she loses, she'll marry Rance. If Minnie wins, Rance must let her go off with Johnson. Rance accepts the terms. They play poker, best two hands out of three. It's a scene worthy of a classic, Hollywood Western — a tense showdown with life and death stakes, playing out with ominous music thrumming in the background. During the game, Minnie pretends to faint and switches her cards so she ends up with the winning hand. Rance is furious, but he holds up his end of the deal. He leaves, and Minnie tends to the wounded Johnson. ACT THREE: Some time later, Nick, Ashby and Sherrif Rance gather around a campfire. Ashby says he thinks his men have caught up with Ramerrez — but it turns out to be a false alarm. They talk about how everything has changed since this "Johnson" appeared.

The jealous Rance points to Minnie's cabin and says that before long, she'll see her lover at the end of a rope — and soon it looks like he's right. Johnson is finally captured. He's brought in tethered to his horse, and Billy is ordered to prepare the noose. Johnson says he's ready to die. His only request is that Minnie never be told that he's dead. He wants her to think that he's just fine, gone off to lead a new life somewhere else. Hearing him talk lovingly about Minnie is too much for Rance, who punches Johnson in the face. Johnson is about to hang when we hear Minnie's voice. She rides in on horseback and pleads for mercy for Johnson. When the men ignore her she draws a pistol, threatening to kill both Johnson and herself. The miners are divided over what to do. Then she reminds the men of all she's done for them, how she's helped every one of them in special ways, and they give in. Outnumbered, Rance has no choice but to turn his prisoner loose. Minnie and Johnson are allowed to leave together, unharmed.

The miners bid their darling Minnie a sad farewell and she and Johnson go off, singing, into the distance. OPERA NEWS - The Girl of the Golden West The Girl of the Golden West LONDON English National Opera 10/2/14 Based on David Belasco’s once famous play The Girl of the Golden West, Puccini’s 1910 opera La Fanciulla del West has been attracting more attention in the UK of late. It was a 1977 production at the ... In order to view this article, you must be a subscriber. If you already have an account, please enter your username and password. Username:

Question: Who composed the opera The Girl of the Golden West?
Answer: Puccini